These powerful images are extremely important. As one woman mentions in the short video at the bottom of the page, it’s one thing to hear a statistic but it’s another to be faced with an image. I like that each veteran had choice over how they wanted their images to look. They are so full of emotion and truth, and I am honoured by their vulnerability and strength. I feel that this conversation is important not just for those serving in the armed forces, but for police, firefighters and other first responders, as well as survivors of all forms of abuse and other traumas. It is important to shed a light on PTSD and to support those suffering. Part of that starts with education and really listening when folks share their experiences.

This is a great list of some of the issues surrounding the ally industrial complex and claiming ally as an identity. Ally is a VERB. You must be allying, in action, and in ways that are called for my the community you are seeking to ‘help’.

This is such an incredible, relevant list.
“We should not put the onus on survivors to increase conviction rates when there are so many other things preventing rapists from being held accountable for their actions.”

” In addition to the extensive use of shackling in violation of the 2009 law, it also found a lack of oversight of reproductive health care, poor conditions of confinement for pregnant women, unfair rejections of women from the prison’s nursery program, inadequate access to gynecological care, substandard medical treatment, insufficient supplies of feminine hygiene products and toilet paper, severely limited access to contraception, and poor access to gynecological care, including privacy violations for women placed in solitary confinement.”

Whole piece from The Guardian, including interviews with inmates about their own personal experiences HERE

” I don’t mean subdue them, or deliver an open-handed pop on the face to get them to settle down,” he wrote on his website. “I mean literally to grab them by the hair and smack their face against the wall till the smugness of beating on someone because you know they won’t fight back drains from their nose with a few million red corpuscles. And then make them clean up the mess.”

Elam says the post was a satirical retort to the feminist blog Jezebel, which had made light of women hitting their boyfriends. He also maintains that A Voice for Men deploys over-the-top language and tactics because it’s the only way to overcome public indifference and draw attention to the urgent problems facing men.”

A lengthy but very important read about the history of the heads of the MRA movement. Catch the entire piece in full HERE

“For decades, the friendly Prairie city has been known for its smiling, lefty premiers, pacifist, Mennonite writers and a love affair with the Jets. Licence plates here bear the tag “Friendly Manitoba.” But events of last fall served to expose a darker reality. The Manitoba capital is deeply divided along ethnic lines. It manifestly does not provide equal opportunity for Aboriginals. And it is quickly becoming known for the subhuman treatment of its First Nations citizens, who suffer daily indignities and appalling violence. Winnipeg is arguably becoming Canada’s most racist city.”